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Ateganosine (THIO) is an experimental drug from MAIA Biotechnology that is built into the ends of chromosomes by telomerase, an enzyme most cancers switch on, and damages them. It is being tested before the immunotherapy cemiplimab in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Ateganosine is the international non-proprietary name of 6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine, which MAIA Biotechnology develops as THIO; the NCI Thesaurus lists ateganosine as a synonym of beta-thioguanine deoxyriboside. Mender and colleagues (Cancer Discovery 2015) showed that it is recognised by telomerase and incorporated into newly synthesised telomeres, causing telomere dysfunction only in cells expressing telomerase; most cancer cell lines died rapidly while normal fibroblasts and colonic epithelial cells were largely unaffected, and it slowed A549 lung cancer xenograft growth more than 6-thioguanine. A 2020 Cancer Cell paper from the same group linked the resulting telomere stress to STING-dependent anti-tumour immunity, the rationale for giving it before a checkpoint inhibitor.
In the clinic MAIA sequences low-dose ateganosine before cemiplimab in advanced non-small cell lung cancer after a checkpoint inhibitor has failed: THIO-101 (NCT05208944, phase 2, active, not recruiting) and a phase 3 trial against chemotherapy in the third line (NCT06908304, recruiting since December 2025). MAIA states that THIO with Libtayo has not been proven safe and effective. No efficacy results are recorded here.
A telomerase substrate precursor: 6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine is recognised by telomerase and incorporated into newly synthesised telomeres, causing telomere dysfunction in telomerase-positive cells; MAIA sequences it before a PD-1 inhibitor on the basis that telomere stress increases innate sensing and anti-tumour immunity. Connects to TERT.
1.Ateganosine is taken up and converted to its triphosphate
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Query for this drug: (TITLE:"Ateganosine" OR ABSTRACT:"Ateganosine" OR TITLE:"THIO" OR ABSTRACT:"THIO" OR TITLE:"6-thio-dG" OR ABSTRACT:"6-thio-dG" OR TITLE:"6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine" OR ABSTRACT:"6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine" OR TITLE:"beta-thioguanine deoxyriboside" OR ABSTRACT:"beta-thioguanine deoxyriboside") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Ateganosine (THIO), not a curated reading list.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Cemiplimab, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
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